This invention relates to a remote photographic processing system and, more particularly, to a remote photographic processing system which allows photographic processing apparatus installed in plurality of places to provide a customer with photographic prints having good reproducibility by utilizing respective exposing conditions stored in a database (DB) established in a center.
In recent years, a photographic processing apparatus miniaturized for the purpose of promptly processing small quantities, so-called mini-lab system (small-scale photographic processing facility), has been gaining popularity. By enabling each section of such mini-lab system to be automatically operated, even an operator who does not have sufficient knowledge of photographic processing can produce a favorably finished photographic print.
As described above, the mini-lab system (miniature laboratory system) presupposes that the operator who does not have sufficient knowledge of photographic processing performs an operation; therefore, a plurality of mini-lab shops are connected via communication lines to the center in which an expert (namely, a person who has a high degree of knowledge and skill in various fields) is stationed so that such expert technician can communicate with each mini-lab shop to deal with various troubles which may arise at such mini-lab shop.
In this respect, for example, techniques disclosed in Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application (kokai) Nos. 3-241349, 3-241350 and the like are available for reference. In these techniques, a state of photographic processing is sent from each mini-lab shop to the center as processing data of a reference sample and the thus sent data is analyzed in the center to be judged as to whether the state of photographic processing at each mini-lab shop is good or not.
In these techniques, however, as a substantial problem at the photographic processing facilities including the mini-lab shops, there is a case that finished states of photographic prints produced in two occasions, one being when a request for photographic processing on a photographic film (hereinafter referred to simply as xe2x80x9cfilmxe2x80x9d) that a customer photographed (so-called request for simultaneous printing) is made and the other being when a request for follow-up printing from the same film (so-called xe2x80x9cextra printingxe2x80x9d, hereinafter referred to simply as xe2x80x9creprintingxe2x80x9d) is made later, do not coincide with each other.
To cope with the above problem, it is well known that various countermeasures such as a method which records a printing condition on the back of the photographic print (so-called xe2x80x9csimultaneous printxe2x80x9d) when the simultaneous printing is performed and produces a next print (extra print or reprint) based on the thus recorded printing condition at the time of next printing (namely, extra printing or reprinting) have been proposed and have achieved substantial effects. However, the above-mentioned method is only permissible when performances of the photographic processing facilities including the mini-labs are extremely high and maintained under a given condition.
In some cases, the customer requests the reprinting to a different mini-lab shop from the one to which the customer requested simultaneous printing. In this case, if the customer carries only his film for the request of reprinting, data at the time of the simultaneous printing is not available; hence the data can not be utilized as reference.
In consequence, the photographic print reprinted by the different mini-lab shop sometimes has a substantially different tone or the like from that of the simultaneous print. When the customer remembered a finished state of the simultaneous print, there were many cases in which the photographic print satisfactory to the customer could not be obtained.
The present invention has been accomplished under these circumstances and has as an object to solve the above problems inherent in the prior arts and provide a remote photographic processing system that is capable of providing a customer with a photographic print having good reproducibility.
In order to achieve the above object, the remote photographic processing system comprises one or more photographic processing sites, each having a photographic processing apparatus; and a center having a database which stores a photographic printing condition of each photographic processing apparatus installed in each of the photographic processing sites that is connected to the center via a communication line; wherein the photographic printing condition which is obtained when previous printing has been performed at each of the photographic processing sites and then sent to the database therefrom is stored in the database.
It is preferred that the previous printing is simultaneous printing.
In the system according to the present invention, when each of the photographic processing sites which has received a request for later printing inquires the database in the center as to whether the photographic printing condition at the previous printing corresponding to the request for the later printing is stored therein or not and catches that the photographic printing condition is stored, the request for the later printing is processed preferably using the photographic printing condition.
It is also preferred that the later printing is reprint.
Moreover, in the system according to the present invention, the photographic printing condition stored in the database in the center is erased preferably after a predetermined period of time has passed.